Michael Davion (Born 2804 – Died 2873)[1] was the son of Paul Davion and Elise Stuart. In contrast to his military-minded father and his children, Michael was primarily a diplomat and politican who spent much time and effort trying to end the Succession Wars peacefully.

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Michael was trained as a MechWarrior and served as a Major in the AFFS but never showed any great flair as a soldier, a cause of irritation and sadness for his father. Upon taking the throne, he handed responsibility for military command to his uncle, Peter Davion and spent much of the next decade trying to make peace with the Federated Suns neighbors, making increasingly extravagant offers. He also invested great effort in recovering lost technology and other artifacts of the Star League. Both of these goals were quite unpopular and there were three assassination attempts and at least one attempt to persuade his uncle to lead a coup.

One of his few forays into military command took place in 2861, while Peter Davion was incapacitated due to a DropShip crash, when Michael ordered the Davion Assault Guards to raid St Ives, then the capital of the inexperienced and cowardly Chancellor Dainmar Liao. This raid so terrified Dainmar that he sued for peace, recognizing all Federated Suns gains during the Succession Wars.

Between the Second and Third Succession Wars, Michael lavishly supported a movement by Capellan and Free Worlds businessmen to arrange a permanent peace treaty between the Successor States. His support backfired however, leading other leaders to suspect the movement was a Davion front. War broke out again within two years and the movement collapsed. Michael succeeded in keeping the Federated Suns out of the war for three years, until his uncle persuaded him to authorize an invasion of the Draconis Combine.

Michael was married twice, first to Margaret Duvall, who died in 2836, and then to Katherine O'Connell, a much younger woman who outlived him by many years. Margaret gave him three children: Carl Davion, Rebecca Davion and Melissa Davion. His only known child by Katherine was Joseph Davion II. All four of his children were distingished soldiers - Rebecca commanded the Davion Assault Guards in the St Ives Raid - and three of them would reign as First Prince after him.

I'm glad that peace has finally returned to the Inner Sphere. Now, if logic and common sense could step in and make the peace permanent with a series of fair and equitable treaties, we could make war a thing of the past.